4 comments:

As a driver and a pedestrian, Queens Boulevard is a traffic nightmare already. The laws in place remain largely unenforced anyway. It appears the Mayor is targeting neighborhoods where commercial traffic take shortcuts, so Queens Boulevard may remain as is. More red light cameras might be useful, though.

Queens Blvd is clearly a pedestrian's nightmare, but an overlooked hazard is the corner of Ascan Avenue and Austin Street. Since they converted the strip of Austin St to one way from Union Turnpike to Ascan Avenue, cars whip down that road to make a hard right hand turn on to Ascan.

It amazes me that people haven't been hit. Many drivers making that right hand turn do not give pedestrian's the right of way when the pedestrian has the cross signal. I live right there and have had numerous close calls.

What we need are speed bumps placed along Austin Street from Union Turnpike to Ascan Avenue. An easy enough fix, but unlikely to get accomplished until a few pedestrians get injured.

Along Susan's thread, the intersection at Continental and Ascan is also a nightmare for pedestrians. What happened to the "Don't Block the Box" campaign and the "No Horn Honking" over there? Drivers regularly go through the lights merely to block the pedestrian walkways.

As a driver and pedestrian, I think 20 MPH speed limits along Queens Blvd wil infuriate some drivers, and cause additional speed. The only way it will work is for VERY strict police enforcement (doubt that will happen.